Instruments and apparatus systems that are used for viewing, recording, and analyzing the results of biological and chemical tests and assays often require instrumentation that provide for the transmission either or both of specific wavelengths and polarization of light to sufficiently image the target. Such instrumentation can include cameras, microscopes, and the like, and can use the light emitted by fluorescent or phosphorescent markers in samples to form an images and identify characteristics of a sample, such as structure or the presence of particular components, to which the markers have attached. In such instrumentation, an image formed by the light wavelengths emitted by the markers in the sample can be reduced in quality by interference from other light sources, considered in such a context as light pollution. Light pollution that reaches an image capturing sensor of imaging instrumentation can reduce the quality and accuracy of the imaged sample.